Automatic means for steering and balancing aerial machines.



P. BENNI.

AUTOMATIC MEANS FOR STEERING AND BALANCING AERIAL MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED 0012,1911.

1,065,656, Patented Jun 24,1913.

PAUL BENNI, OF LUIBLIN, RUSSIA.

AUTOMATIC MEANS FOR STEERING AND BALANCING AERIAL MACH1NES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Patented June 24, 1913.

Application filed October 2, 1911. Serial No. 652,289.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, PAUL B m ni, a subject of the Emperor of Russia, residing, at 58 Krakowskie Przedmiescie, Lublin, Russian Poland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Means for Steering and Balancing Aerial Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The known aerial machines do not as a rule fly uniformly in a straight line but assume alternately upward and downward inclinations and are therefore alternately accelerated and retarded. These irregularities of movement have up to the present been counteracted by steering by hand, more especially by inclining the horizontal rudder in the one or the other direction.

The present invention has for its object to do away with manual steering for the purpose of balancing. This is accomplished according to the invention by providing at suitable places of the aerial craft pendulums which oscillate in vertical planes, more especially in the vertical plane of propulsion, and by closing electrical contacts or by other means actuate the rudder in the direction required to counteract the deviation of the aerial machine from the normal position. a

The accompanying drawing illustrates the invention diagrammatically.

Upon a fixed pivot 1 of the aerial machine is rotatably mounted athree-armed lever 2, 3, 4 the vertical arm 4 of which carries an adjustable weight 5 while the horizontal arms 2, 3 carry adjustable weighted pendulums 6, 7. The oscillation of the pendulum beam is limited by eleetromagnets 8, 9. The oscillation of the pendulums 6, 7 is limited by laminae 11, 12, 14, 15 arranged underneath the pendulums in boxes 16 and 16 secured to the frame of the machine, these laminae being adapted to make contact with the lower ends'of the pendulums' and electrically connected with electromagnets' 17 18 and with each other in the manner shown in the drawing. The electromagnets 17, 18 actuate a steering member represented by a two-armed lever 20, 21 pivoted at 19.

E designates a source of electricity e. g. a storage battery.

The arrows P, Q indicate the directions of movement of the pendulums or contact and the electromagnet 18 is. energized to attract the armature of the arm 21. The horizontal rudder pivoted at 19 is thus raised as required for counteracting the pitching of the aerial machines. The inclination of the aerial machine in the opposite i. e. in the upward direction is followed in a similar manner by a turning of the horizontal rudder in the other direction, the contact piece 14 moving in this case in the direction of the arrow Q, and establishing by striking the end 13'0f the pendulum 7 the circuit 14:h17 7c'd e-f-E- 13 14 of the electromagnet 17 which attracts the armature of the arm 20. When a retardation of the aerial machine occurs all the pendulums swing to the left, but the pendulum 4-5 having a longer period of oscillation swings more slowly than the pendu: lums 106, 13-7 which are arranged to have a shorter period. This has the result that the end 10 of the pendulum 6 assumes first a position in a vertical line above the contact piece 12 and is immediately thereafter moved down upon the contact piece 12 by the oscillation of the pendulum 45. This closes the circuit 12-mr-hi17/c cdef-EglO-l2 of the electromagnet 17 which by attracting the armature of the steering arm 20 lowers the horizontal rudder forwardly. In a similar manner any acceleration of the aerial machine will cause the required raising of the horizontal rudder. In this case all the pendulums swing to the right, and the end 13 of pendulum 7 is pressed upon the contact 15 so as to close g1315 of the electromagnet 18 which by attracting the armature of arm 21 adjusts the rudder. Since a sudden blast of wind from the rear or front causes a recontact piece 12 and the pendulum end 1Q required .for the retardation cannot take place after the contact piece 11 has been pressed against the pendulum end 10 by downward inclination of the vessel since the friction between the contact piece 11 and the pendulum end 10 is too great to allow the pendulum end to slide off to the left. In order to avoid this drawback a further pair of pendulums 22, 23 is provided which pendulums also oscillate in the vertical plane of propulsion of the machine and are arranged on a common axis 24 which may preferably coincide with the axis 1. The pendulum 22 is arranged to have a shorter period of oscillation than that of pendulum 23. The pendulum 22 possesses contacts 25, 26 and the pendulum 23 is rovided with contacts 27, 28. The pendul iims are suitably electrically connected with the source of electricity E and the electromagnets 8, 9,

17, 18.: When the retardation of the aerial machine occurs and consequently an oscillation of the pendulums to'the left takes place, the contacts 25, 27 touch each other for a moment and close the circuit 27'0--9-;0 f-Eg-g262527 thus electromagnet 9 which by attracting the armature of arm 3 raises for a moment the pendulum 10-6. Owing to the existing retardation the pendulum end which has been lifted from the contact piece 11 will now and has brought about the proper adjust-:

ment of the pendulum 2, 3, 4, it may possibly before coming to rest perform a number.

of further oscillations by which the contacts 2628 and 2527 are closed, but the proper adjustment of the pendulum 2, 3, 4 is not affected thereby. On the contrary the pendulum 10 is even more firmly pressed upon the contact 12, or the pendulum end 13 upon the contact 15, as the case may be.

Only after the movement of the vessel has become uniform, is it necessary that the pendulums 22, 23 should come to rest. In order that the motionof these pendulums be stopped in time a damping device may be provided which may consist of a small receptacle 29 containing oil-fixed to the lower end of pendulum 23 into which receptacle the end of pendulum 22 is immersed so as to brake the movement.

If the above described device is to be ap-.

energizing plied for balancing the vessel in the transverse direction and counteracting lateral retardation and acceleration, it has to be turned through 90 and caused to actupon suitable steering means.

Since the downward and upward inclinations of the aerial machines occur only very rarely and for short periods without simultaneous accelerations or rctardations especially in the longitudinal direction, the conductive laminae 11, 14 may be replaced by non-conductive ones without essentially impairing the accuracy of operation of the device. The device may be made very compact without prejud'icially affecting the effectiveness or accuracy of the same.

Having now particularly described and.

ascertained the nature of my said invention and 1n what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is 1-- 1. Device for automatically balancing aerial machines having a horizontal rudder,

comprising a pendulum provided with two horizontal arms, two pendulums suspended from the extremities of said arms having a shorter period of oscillation than the firstnamed pendulum, weights upon each of said pendulums, electro-magnetic means for limiting the oscillation of the horizontal arms, means for limiting the oscillation of the two last named endulums, electro magnetic means for ad uSting the rudder or steering means in both directions, and auxiliary means for adjusting (raising or lowering) the pendulums influencing the steering device, substantially as described.

2. Device for automatically balancing aerial machines having a horizontal rudder, comprising a pendulum provided with two horizontal arms, two pendulums suspended from the extremities of said arms having a shorter period of oscillation than the firstnamed pendulum, weights upon each of said pendulums, laminae in boxes secured to the frame of the machine adapted to make contact with and limit the oscillation of the two last named pendulums, elect-r0 magnetic means for adjusting the rudder or steering means in both directions, and an auxiliary pair of pendulums arranged upon a common axis for adjusting (raising or lowering) the pendulums influencing the steering device.

3. Device for automatically balancing aerial machines having a horizontal rudder, comprising a pendulum provided with two horizontal arms, two pendulums suspended from the extremities of said arms having a shorter period of oscillation than the firstnamed pendulum, weights upon each of said pendulums, laminae in boxes secured to the frame of the machine adapted to make contact with and limit the oscillation of the two last-named pendulums, electro-magnets conductively connected to said lamina for adjusting the rudder or steering means'in both ill directions, an auxiliary pair of pendulums In tescimony whereof I afiix my signature arranged upon a common axis for ad uStmg 1n prese ce of two Witnesses.

(raising or lowering) the pendulumsinflu- PAUL BENNI encing the steering device, and an oil re- 5 cept-acle connected to said auxiliary pendu- Witnesses:

ln'rns for braking the movement of sald pen- I FRANCIS TREMBICKE,

dulums, substantially as described. THOMAS MILES. 

